The present invention relates to search control which give a user an improved way to make a selection using a key board and a display.
In certain computing systems, a user uses a mouse to move a cursor on a display screen. A button on the mouse is pushed to indicate the user's desire to make a selection.
For instance, FIG. 1, shows an example of what may appear on a display screen in the prior art. List of application names 3 appear enclosed in a selection box. A cursor 2 appears on the screen controlled by a mouse (not shown). When the mouse moves on a surface, the cursor moves on the screen. When a user wants to select one of applications 3 he moves the mouse such that cursor 2 is placed over his selection. The user then pushes a button on the mouse, which causes the selection to be highlighted. The user then moves cursor 2 to be within box 8, labelled Select. Once there the user again pushes the button on the mouse. The computer then acts upon the user's selection.
Alternatively, in order to make a selection, once a user has placed cursor 2 over a selection, some prior art systems allow a user to push the button twice in quick succession. Other systems may have two buttons on a mouse, one used for highlighting a selection, and one used for when a user finally wants to make a selection. Finally, in some systems, pushing a button on a mouse down may cause a selection to be highlighted. Releasing the button may cause the selection to be made.
Often times only a limited number of selections may be displayed at one time. For instance, in FIG. 1, only nine applications in alphabetical order are shown. However, a total list of the applications may be much larger. The other selections may be addressed by using scroll bar 4. Scroll bar 4 contains a scroll region 7, an arrow box 5 and an arrow box 6. In FIG. 1 scroll region 7 is at the border of arrow box 5. This indicates that the first entries of the list of applications are shown. When scroll region 7 is at the border of arrow box 6, this indicates that the last entries of the list of applications are shown. When scroll region 7 is in between these extreme positions, this indicates some intermediate entries of the list of applications are being shown.
Scroll region 7 may be moved by various methods. For instance, when scroll region 7 is not at the border of arrow box 6, a user may scroll down the shown list of applications by placing cursor 2 in arrow 6 and depressing a button on the mouse. Upon each depression of the button the top displayed entry disappears, a new bottom entry appears at the bottom and all the other selections move upward. Also, scroll region 7 moves incrementally downward. Similarly, placing cursor 2 in arrow 5 and depressing the button on the mouse causes the list of applications to be scrolled upward and scroll region 7 to be moved incrementally upward. Further, the list of applications may be scrolled by placing cursor 2 in scroll regions 7 and depressing the button on the mouse. The scroll region will then follow cursor 2 up and down scroll bar 4 until the button is released. Upon release, entries in the list of applications would appear which would correspond to the location of scroll region 7 on scroll bar 4.
As can be seen, the prior art method is a visual, easy to use method of selecting an entry from a list. Nevertheless, when a list of entries is very long, it may be inconvenient for a user to try and locate the exact entry. Further, many typists prefer to remove their fingers from the keyboard as seldom as possible. In the prior art method, however, it is necessary to use a mouse to make a selection.